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El Salvador Gangs

Large-scale gang warfare has made El Salvador one of the most violent countries in the Americas. But on 9 March, leaders of the country’s two most powerful gangs agreed a truce, saying that the situation was getting out of hand, especially when it came to youth in their own communities.

Prison inmates belonging to Mara Salvatrucha-13 attend an evangelical religious service. Members of El Salvador’s two main rival gangs are held in different prisons to avoid clashes.

Large-scale gang warfare has made El Salvador one of the most violent countries in the Americas. But on 9 March, leaders of the country’s two most powerful gangs agreed a truce, saying that the situation was getting out of hand, especially when it came to youth in their own communities.

The leaders of Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha-13 pledged to put a brake on violence and to stop recruiting adolescent members. The government agreed to transfer 30 prisoners held in maximum-security jails to less restrictive institutions.

The truce appeared to have some success. Homicides in the first part of the year were down 32 percent, and kidnappings dropped by half. On 14 April, El Salvador recorded its first day in three years without a murder.